Tsaar Pjotr III von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp

1728 - 1762  (34 years)    Has more than 100 ancestors but no descendants in this family tree.

• Name	Pjotr III von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp
  Prefix	Tsaar
  Birth	21 Feb 1728	Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Deutschland
  Gender	Male
  Death	7 Jul 1762	Ropscha
  Burial	Cathedral of the St. Peter and St. Paul fortress, St. Petersburg, Rossiya
  Person ID	I8859	Geneagraphie
  Last Modified	16 Sep 2009

  
  

  Father	Karl Friedrich von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp,   b. 30 Apr 1700, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Södermanland, Uppland, Sverige d. 8 Jun 1739 (Age 39 years)
  Mother	Anna Petrowna Romanoff,   b. 7 Feb 1708, Moskva, Rossiya d. 15 May 1728, Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Deutschland (Age 20 years)
  Marriage	1 Jun 1725	St. Petersburg, Ingria, Rossiya
  Family ID	F3816	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Tsarin Ekaterina II von Anhalt-Zerbst, "the Great",   b. 2 May 1729, Stettin, Polska d. 6 Nov 1796, St. Petersburg, Ingria, Rossiya (Age 67 years)
  Marriage	1 Sep 1745	St. Petersburg, Ingria, Rossiya
  Family ID	F3057	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	29 Aug 2000

  
  

• Event Map	Click to hide
  		Birth - 21 Feb 1728 - Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Deutschland Marriage - 1 Sep 1745 - St. Petersburg, Ingria, Rossiya  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Photos

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• Notes

  When Anna's sister Elizabeth became Empress of Russia she brought Peter from Germany to Russia and proclaimed him her heir in the autumn of 1742. Previously in 1742 the 14-year-old Peter was proclaimed King of Finland during the Russo-Swedish War (1741-1743) when Russian troops held Finland. This proclamation was based on his succession rights to territories held by his childless grand-uncle, the late Charles XII of Sweden who also had been Grand Duke of Finland . About the same time, in October 1742, he was chosen by the Swedish parliament to become heir to the Swedish throne. However, the Swedish parliament was unaware of the fact that he had also been proclaimed heir to the throne of Russia, and when their envoy arrived in Saint Petersburg it was too late. It has been reported that the underage Peter's succession rights to Sweden were renounced on his behalf (such an act in name of a minor has been regarded as questionable and probably invalid). Empress Elisabeth arranged for Peter to marry his second cousin, Sophia Augusta Frederica (later Catherine the Great ), daughter of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst and Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp. The young princess formally converted to Russian Orthodoxy and took the name Ekaterina Alexeievna (i.e., Catherine ). They married in 1745. The marriage was not a happy one, but produced one son: the future Emperor Paul ; and one daughter: Anna Petrovna (20 December 1757 - 19 March 1759). Catherine later claimed that Paul was not fathered by Peter, that, in fact, they had never consummated the marriage. [1] During the sixteen years of their residence in Oranienbaum Catherine took numerous lovers, as did her husband. After Peter gained the throne in 1762, he incurred many nobles' displeasure by withdrawing from the Seven Years' War and making peace with Prussia, in which Russia did not gain anything, in spite of Russia's occupation of Berlin and virtual victory in the war. He formed an alliance with Prussia and planned an unpopular war against Denmark in order to restore Schleswig to his Duchy of Holstein-Gottorp. It is also claimed that he wanted to force the Russian Orthodox Church to adopt Lutheran practices. During Peter's short reign, Russia saw several minor but important economic reforms that encouraged development of Western-European style capitalism and mercantilism and to move away from Russia's traditional social practices of subjugating peasants and townspeople and reserving leading positions for nobility. He issued an edict abolishing the practice allowing industrialists to purchase serfs as workers for their enterprises. He also forbade the importation of sugar into Russia to stimulate domestic manufacturing. Peter's major social reform was the introduction of the Liberty for Nobility, abrogating Peter the Great's policy of forcing all male members of Russian nobility to serve in the military or civil service without regard for individual preference for a particular occupation. Catherine, along with her lover Grigori Orlov , planned to overthrow Peter, as she believed he would divorce her in order to marry his mistress Elisabeth Vorontsova . The Leib Guard , on which Peter planned to impose harsher discipline, revolted and Peter was arrested and forced to abdicate; Catherine became Empress with the support of most of the nobility. Shortly thereafter, Peter was killed while in custody at Ropsha . While Catherine did not punish the responsible guards, doubts remain as to whether she ordered the murder or not. In December 1796, Peter's son the Emperor Paul , who disliked his mother, arranged for his remains to be exhumed and then reburied with full honors in the Peter and Paul Cathedral , where other tsars were buried. The Cossack peasant Pugachev later claimed to be Peter III (promoting a rumour that Peter had not died, but had secretly been imprisoned by Catherine). Under this guise, he led what came to be known as Pugachev's Rebellion . There have been many attempts to revise the traditional characterisation of Peter and his policies, which were obviously influenced by his wife's memoirs and other biased accounts. It was during his reign that some of Catherine's reforms were prepared and the nobles were relieved from the obligation of serving in the army, which they considered burdensome. Most recently, a Harvard historian Carol S. Leonard published a revisionist history of Peter III with her book Reform and Regicide: The Reign of Peter III of Russia. ********************************* was deposed in a coup after serving briefly as Russian emperor (January-July 1762). He was proclaimed heir to the throne in 1742 by his aunt, Empress Elizabeth. Peter ascended the Russian throne on December 25, 1761, the day Empress Elizaveta Petrovna died. His first action was an amnesty for and return from exile of state figures arrested by Elizaveta after her accession. During his short reign, he introduced various reforms, banned the persecution of dissenters, dissolved the Privy Council and by special decree released the gentry from compulsory state service. On June 28, 1762, he was overthrown by a court coup led by his wife. After his deposition, he was imprisoned in Ropshinskii Castle, where he was killed by Count Alexei Orlov, Catherine's favorite lover. Catherine made two childs for him with her lovers, a son, later Emperor Paul I, and a daughter, who died in infancy. Peter III was buried in the Annunciation Church of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery but in December 1796, by order of his "son" Paul I, his remains were reburied with full honors.